Jaywalking and Smartphone Use Together "Need to Improve Traffic Safety Awareness"

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Announces Results of 2020 Traffic Culture Index Survey for 229 Cities, Counties, and Districts Nationwide
Top Traffic Culture Level in 2020: Wonju-si, Gyeryong-si, Yeongdong-gun, Incheon Namdong-gu

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] The traffic culture index showed a slight increase last year compared to the previous year, with higher compliance rates for pedestrian crosswalk stop lines and pedestrian signal adherence. However, the frequency of jaywalking and the use of smart devices while driving increased compared to the previous year, indicating a need for improvement.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 27th that the results of the '2020 Traffic Culture Index Survey' showed a score of 78.94 points, up 2.3 points from the previous year (76.64 points), suggesting that the traffic culture level of our citizens is steadily improving.

Looking at the results by category, due to the sharp increase in delivery motorcycle accidents, enforcement, guidance, and publicity on motorcycle traffic law violations were strengthened last year, resulting in a helmet-wearing rate of 90.65%, an improvement of more than 5.7% compared to the previous year.

The compliance rate of drivers stopping at pedestrian crosswalk stop lines (81.79%) and adherence to pedestrian signals at crosswalks (92.50%) slightly increased compared to the previous year (3.17% and 1.82%, respectively), showing improvement. However, the frequency of pedestrian jaywalking (35.27%) was higher than the previous year, highlighting an urgent need for awareness improvement.

In particular, the frequency of drivers using smart devices (35.92%) was higher than the previous year (35.50%), indicating the need for continuous guidance, publicity, and enforcement. In other words, more than three out of ten drivers were found to use smart devices while driving, raising ongoing concerns about traffic accident risks.

The 'Traffic Safety Status' (total score 13 points), which evaluates local governments' efforts in traffic safety, scored 7.73 points, a 41% increase from the previous year (5.48 points), indicating a gradual increase in local governments' interest in traffic safety.

Among the four groups of cities, counties, and districts, the highest scoring local governments were: Wonju City in Gangwon Province (86.82 points) among cities with populations over 300,000 (29 cities); Gyeryong City in Chungnam Province (87.70 points) among cities with populations under 300,000 (49 cities); Yeongdong County in Chungbuk Province (87.75 points) among counties (79 counties); and Namdong District in Incheon (87.01 points) among autonomous districts (69 districts).

The highest scoring 'Yeongdong County, Chungbuk' showed compliance rates above the national average in most evaluation indicators. Notably, the rate of smart device use while crossing the street decreased by more than 50% from 7.97% the previous year to 3.7%. Additionally, it received high marks for continuous efforts to improve traffic culture, such as implementing ground-level auxiliary traffic signals to prevent accidents involving 'Smombie' pedestrians.

'Smombie' is a portmanteau of Smart Phone and Zombie, referring to people who walk with their heads down, staring at their smartphone screens without looking left or right on the street.

'Wonju City, Gangwon Province' showed high levels in driving behavior (50.61 points, 2nd in the group) and pedestrian behavior (18.16 points, 1st in the group), improving traffic culture through pilot installations of pedestrian guidance signs to enhance the walking environment.

'Gyeryong City, Chungnam Province' dramatically improved its local government traffic safety effort score from 0.62 points the previous year to 10.5 points, rising to first place nationwide (both overall and within its group) in traffic safety.

'Namdong District, Incheon' showed levels above the national average with driving behavior at 49.51 points and traffic safety at 20.17 points. Indicators such as driver signal compliance (99.26%), motorcycle helmet wearing rate (98.56%), and seatbelt wearing rate (92.65%) ranked among the top. It was also found to be making continuous efforts to establish a traffic safety culture, including expanding child protection zones.

Among 229 local governments nationwide, those with the greatest improvement in the 2020 traffic culture index were Suyeong District in Busan (76.98 → 85.57 points, top 5.8% among autonomous districts), Jincheon County in Chungbuk (73.81 → 82.88 points, top 8.86% among counties), and Taebaek City in Gangwon Province (70.89 → 82.47 points, top 20.41% among cities with populations under 300,000).

Suyeong District in Busan, ranked first in improvement, showed increases in all surveyed items except for the rate of smart device use while driving. Projects to improve the walking environment for vulnerable road users, such as operating a resident reporting system for illegal parking in child protection zones, contributed to the enhancement of traffic culture.

A pilot survey on seatbelt wearing rates among freight vehicle drivers (on highways and national industrial complexes) showed a seatbelt wearing rate of 66.6%, about 21% lower than the overall driver seatbelt wearing rate (87.5%), indicating a need to improve awareness of seatbelt use among freight vehicle drivers.

Oh Myung-so, Director General of Comprehensive Transportation Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated, "The annual increase in the traffic culture index means that the public's awareness of traffic safety is steadily improving. However, the frequency of pedestrian jaywalking and smart device use remains high, and the seatbelt wearing rate among freight vehicle drivers is significantly low, posing a high risk of traffic accidents. Therefore, it is necessary for both the public and private sectors to work together to strictly comply with traffic safety regulations and advance toward becoming a traffic safety nation at the level of OECD developed countries."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.